Tightening Up The Organizations That Are Included In My API Design Research

30 Jun 2015

I try to go through each of my areas of research as often as I can and update the content, as well as my understanding. Ideally I update the news each week, take a look at the organizations involved once a month, and evaluate the building blocks and tools each quarter. Unfortunately it doesn't always happen as planned, but as a one man operation, I think I do pretty well.

I just went through my API design research, and adjusted my definition of what I felt needed be listed there. As I move API definitions to their own research area(s), I'm reconsidering what I want to keep an eye on when it comes to API design, and my current definition involves organizations who offer API design editors, either in the cloud or as download. They should allow you to add, edit, and manage the API details, then also provide the ability to import and export using common API definition format(s).

Currently I have nine organizations represented, as part of my API design research:

Apiary Apiary jump-started the modern API design movement, by making API definitions more than just about API documentation, allowing API designers to define APIs in the machine readable API definition format API blueprint, then mock, share, and publish documentation via a cloud platform.

Apigee API Studio Apigee launched their API Studio out of their earlier Apigee-127 product, their work on the Swagger platform and editor, and their BaaS offering. Opening up the ability for developers to design, mock, test and share via their online platform.

APIMATIC When you use APIMATIC to manage SDKs, they provide you with an editor for adding, editing, and deleting the details of each API. When you bundles this with their multi API definition format import and export, the platform quickly becomes an API design tool as well as a platform for generating your SDKs.

APIMATIC API

deployd Deployd is an open source API design, and deployment platform that allows developers to quickly design, customize, and deploy an API, with supporting application interface via a downloadable app, and command line utilities.

Mashape Mashape provides an API editor, as part of their API management and discovery platform, allowing API providers to add, edit, and manage the details of an API design, while also managing the rest of API operations--from design to discovery and integraiton.

MuleSoft Mulesoft provides a cloud, and open source version of their API design editor, enabling API designers to craft APIs using the RAML API definition format, then publish to notebook, as well as manage through other aspects of the API lifecycle with other Mulesoft systems.

Restlet The Restlet Studio allows you to design APIs, and add, edit, and manage the details via cloud based API editor, import and export in Swagger and RAML, then also generate server, and client side code, as well as interactive documentation.

Sandbox Sandbox provides an environment for users to quickly mock APIs that are generated from common API definition formats like API Blueprint, and Swagger, then deploy, collaboratively build, and debug APIs using an online platform.

Swagger Swagger is a machine readable API definition format that has built a number of tools around the specification, including an open source API design editor that allows you to design, import, and export APIs in JSON and YAML, then also generate server, and client side code, as well as interactive documentation.

As I work to refine each of my research areas, it can be hard to draw the line where each projects starts, and ends. I had Readme.io, and Wavemaker on this list, but I really felt they were more in the API management, and API deployment realms, resulting in me drawing the line where I did.

Next I am looking to tackle the API design tooling, which I am looking to organize into groups, as there is kind of a mash-up of different things there now. Hopefully I can break it all into a more coherent breakdown of not just the open tooling, but also open content, and other resources that might help all of us all in our API design journey.

One thing I have to say after updating the list of organizations on my API design research, is I am impressed how far the services, tooling, and overall API design mindset has come in just two short years. We have more than one editor, with a couple of the implementations being open source--I'd say this is pretty healthy progress. ;-)